


Perfect Synchronization

by Tangerine_Catnip



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Mind Control, Original Character(s), POV First Person, character fusion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 20:08:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3823147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tangerine_Catnip/pseuds/Tangerine_Catnip
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ruvik's attempts to take over Leslie's body have some unexpected results. Instead of superseding Leslie's mind, the two separate consciousnesses fuse together. Creating something entirely different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perfect Synchronization

Where am I?

I hold my hand out in front of me. The pale white fingers are so familiar yet alien to me. My head feels like it's splitting open. As if the force of my own thoughts is too much to contain inside my skull. I reach up to touch the side of my head. I feel soft hair where glass should be. This is wrong, only… No, no, it had always been like that, hadn't it? I remember fisting it in my fingers and pulling on my hair. But I also remember laboriously cutting the side of my skull to fit the tempered prosthetic into place. The pain was intense, shimmering gold sunlight, I never allowed myself to stop.

The ambulance in which I had been a prisoner lay on its side in the middle of the road. Its fuel tank had pierced and then caught fire. Now the whole mass was up in flames. It looks so pretty. Only, wasn't I scared of fire? Something to do with a traumatic memory.

I stare into the flames trying to remember. The flicking tongues are mesmerizing. I feel prickles of discomfort, but no more than that.

Then it comes to me. My sister, wait, did I have a sister? I try to pull up a memory of her and my head explodes in another spike of pain. I see two dead girls. One burned to death the other murdered in cold blood. I see her burning and bleeding. Two girls? Or one... or nether.

Cars were stopping and people are emerging from them to ogle the scene of the crash. I see more men in white hazmat suits pushing through the crowd. I'm frozen in place, rage seethes in me, I want to stand and fight, but fear clings to my heart and whispers that we can't. We have to run.

The splitting headache returns, so painful I nearly collapsed onto the concrete. The moment of weakness sways the balance and I break out into a run.

* * *

 

I can't tell how long it took to finally give Mobius the slip. Whatever mental trick I had used to run the ambulance driver off the road seemed beyond me in my panicked state.

I found a small park with large bushes that offered a concealed place to catch my breath and a moment to think. A collapsed to the grass, panting heavily and staring up at the bright blue sky.

I'm out, I'm free. How long had it been since I'd last seen the sky? It felt like years, but also far less. There was no trace of conflict the joy I felt at seeing the sun again though.

I wanted to lie on the grass and bask in the warm rays, but the questions in my mind wouldn't stop coming.

"Who am I?"

I murmured that aloud, even the sound of my voice felt unreal. I looked over my physical form. Everything seemed to be fine. But then, why was I not comfortable in my own skin?

I stared at my hands again, pulling up the sleeves of my hospital garb to check for burns.

"Did I fail? Was my theory wrong?" I murmured to myself.

But then, the mere fact that I'm able to ask myself those questions mean it can't be true. If I failed, then Ruvik should be dead or still trapped in the nightmare prison of STEM, my stolen creation.

Am I Ruvik? I... I don't think I am. Or am I? How would I be able to tell?

Ruvik was trying to take over Leslie's body. I call up memories of Leslie, gritting my teeth against the pain. I get two images, one of a reflection in glass and the other from a third person perspective. Two different impressions of the same person from two points of view, internal and external.

I shake my head, forcing the thoughts away. My physical form is that of Leslie. There's no mistaking it. I recognize it as if it was the body I was born with.

Was I born with it?

I'm not Ruvik, I'm Leslie.

I'm not Leslie, I'm Ruvik.

I believe both of those statements. They contradicted each other, but they both felt correct. There was a word for this... cognitive dissonance? Yes, that was it.

Maybe the answer was simple. Could I be both? If one conciseness could override another. If two people, against all odds, were compatible enough to do that. Could that compatibility result in a melding of identities? A reverse on dissociative identity disorder.

The idea seems equal parts fascinating and terrifying, but it's the best hypothesis I've got. I sit up and cross my legs, glancing around to make sure no one has noticed the albino man in mental patent attire hiding in the bushes.

Perhaps I can try to separate the two personalities. It's the only way to prove that they exist at all. My headaches seem to start whenever I remember something that Leslie and Ruvik would disagree on. 

The worst pain had come when I thought about family. It was hard for me to recall the details without diving deep into memories. But I knew there was trauma there, just like I knew the sky was blue and how to wiggle my toes.

"Mother, my mother..."

I closed my eyes and tried to picture her. Just like before, two different images formed. A woman in a black old-fashioned dress, another in a blouse and jeans. A swell of emotion hit me. An uncanny mixing of two vastly different reactions.

A warm hand to hold. A foolish woman too weak to stand up to father. Bedtime stories cuddled in blankets. Sharp fingers roughly fixing my cravat before father sees.

Ruvik's hatred and disappointment, Leslie Love and adoration. The emotions inspired by two separate people, but I can't tell where one ends and the other begins. I cram both hands over my ears, it hurts. Like I'm splitting apart at the seams.

The pain is making my eyes water. Or are those tears? My answer comes a second later when I start sobbing. I fall sideways into a heap on the grass. I can feel it. The separate personalities splitting apart. Leslie is breaking down, Ruvik filled with disgust.

I've never cried. Or... or Ruvik never has… not since.

**Laura...**

**Mommy!**

The pain of loss is strong, but its emotional pain, not the physical tortures I had been suffering a moment ago.

Like an elastic band falling into place with a brutal snap, my consciousness stabilizes. The unifying despair shattering the cognitive dissonance ripping me to pieces.

I push myself up on shaking arms and brush the wet marks off my cheeks. That was such a stupid idea.

But at least now I know what I am. Who I am?

I think.

But that still left several important questions. Including what the hell I was going to do now.

Ruvik had things he wanted to accomplish, but whatever they had been and the motivation to achieve them eluded me. I sure as hell felt like I had something important to do. A reason I wanted so desperately to escape.

Suddenly I realize I've been in one place for too long. No doubt some Mobius goons would double back and try to flush me out of hiding like a pack of dogs hunting a rabbit.

Once I was truly out of danger I could wrestle with my identity crises some more. I got to my feet with difficulty. I was still feeling a little woozy from my ill-advised attempt to split myself in half.

I carefully step out of the bushes, searching for threats.

I hear the whistling of a small object piercing the air seconds before the pain blossoms in my shoulder. The force of the impact sends me back to the ground. The civilians in the park start screaming, a frenzy of activity as a group of armed men storm into their midst.

They're dressed like SWAT so they won't draw too many questions. I force myself up, but the sedatives in the dart that hit my shoulder are already taking hold.

No. NO!

Hate boils up inside me. Hate and fear. Neither of my halves wants to be captured. I feel their need for freedom double. It's vibrating though every part of my being. My eyes meet those of a Mobius soldier through his clear goggles.

A window of opportunity. A chance to make him suffer. Not truly understanding why or how I do it, my piercing gaze sinks into my victim. He stops dead, the soldiers around him stop dead in their tracks as well, looking at him in obvious confusion. This must be their leader. Prefect.

Taking hold of his mind is easy. He is dumb and obedient as a dog. Prefect for Mobius but also a piece of cake for me to control.

He does my bidding, undoing the safety on his gun and jamming the barrel of his pistol against his neck. The Mobius soldiers are think as posts, but they've been briefed about psychological hazards and realize what's happening.

I broaden my sphere of influence, locking eyes with each in turn before they can think to shield themselves. One by one they press weapons against exposed flesh. Knives and firearms all poised for my signal.

The drugs in my system will take me down. I'll be a sitting duck for reinforcements. I won't escape, but at least I can remind Mobius who they are fucking with. I envision the shower of blood. Nearly fifteen lives ending in a single moment with not even a twitch of my fingers.

Three… two... one...

Pain exploded inside me. My heart wrenching in my chest. I can't… I CAN'T!

They don't deserve that. They were just following orders. They have families, people who love them. That pain of loss. My family. I can't do that to anyone else. Don't kill them. I won't kill them. I won't, I won't, and I won't!

I realize the words are coming out of my mouth. An endless mantra repeating those two words.

Ruvik's thirst for vengeance is unstoppable. Leslie's refusal to harm others is unbreakable.

I'm coming apart again. It hurts. 

I'm going to die.

* * *

 

You know, I never saw who won in the end. What side of myself prevailed before the stress overwhelmed me and everything turned black.

Maybe I saw blood before I passed out, or maybe it was just a hallucination. Either way, it hardly matters now.

I never woke up again. Not really. My mind imprisoned, just like Ruvik was. Just like Leslie was. I'm installed as an engine to fuel Mobius's grab for power. A prisoner, a brain in a jar, a mental patient tied to his bed.

What's left of my memory is hazy, like a picture printed one on top of the other. I don't have a past and I don't have a future. But at least there's one thing I know for sure.

I am not two people

I am not one person

I am an experience. A force of nature.

And I'm done being a tool for someone else to use.

**Author's Note:**

> and that is why you don't listen to "stronger then you" on repeat after playing The Evil Within all night. 
> 
> I really like this new OC-ish thing I made. I think he would make for an awesome RP blog. Maybe i'll find the energy to do that.


End file.
